History Film / Lion

* TitleCharacter: [[spoiler:LION turns out to be one -- Saroo was actually mispronouncing his name as it was "Sheru", which means "lion".]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Its not 100% clear what Mantosh suffers from, but it causes him to punch himself in the head repeatedly.

* TheNamesake: At the end of the movie, it's revealed "Lion" is the meaning of Saroo's given name.

* AdultFear:
** [[spoiler:Saroo's poor mother lost two of her sons on the same night. One died, and the other was never found, leaving her with no choice but to hold out hope that he was still alive. It would be 25 years until she reunited with him.]]
** Five-year-old Saroo innocently trusts a random woman he meets on the street, who takes him home, gets him fed and cleaned up... and nearly sells him into slavery before Saroo gets a bad feeling about the whole thing and flees.

* {{Mondegreen}}: PlayedForDrama when young Saroo cannot pronounce his hometown of Ganesh Talai except as Kanestalee, rendering searching impossible.

** Five-year-old Saroo innocently trusts a random woman he meets on the street, who takes him home, gets him fed and cleaned up... and nearly sells him into slavery before Saroo gets a bad feeling about the whole thing and flees. Brr.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Saroo's happy reunion with his mother and sister is saddened when he learned that Guddu was killed on the same night he was lost by being hit by a train. But, Saroo now has two loving families.]]

* MommasBoy: Either with his biological or adoptive mother, Saroo loves the both dearly.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: The film was released in 2016, but the portions with adult Saroo take place from 2008 - 2010. For the most part, the two time periods aren't all that different in terms of aesthetic or culture, but there is one noticeable difference: in 2008, Google Earth is a brand-new, exciting, innovative piece of technology. Now that millions of people use it every day, often for very mundane purposes, it's easy to forget just how incredible it seemed back then.

* AdultFear: [[spoiler:Saroo's poor mother lost two of her sons on the same night. It would be 25 years until she reunited with her youngest.]]

* DeadAllAlong: In his search for his birth family, Saroo considers this trope as a possibility and is afraid that his search will amount to this. [[spoiler:He does find his mother alive and his sister, but Guddu had since passed away; the epilogue mentions he died the same day Saroo went missing]].

* ProductPlacement: Google Earth plays a prominent role in the plot, as it's the main tool that Saroo uses to find his hometown.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: The film was released in 2016, but the portions with adult Saroo take place from 2008 - 2010. For the most part, the two time periods aren't all that different in terms of aesthetic or culture, but there is one noticeable difference: in 2008, Google Earth is a brand-new, exciting, innovative piece of technology. Now that millions of people use it every day, often for very mundane purposes, it's easy to forget just how incredible it seemed back then.

It ia a BasedOnATrueStory film about a young Indian boy, Saroo, who is lost in a train station by his family in a faraway city where he does not speak the language. Unable to communicate where he's from or who his parents are, he is treated as an orphan and adopted to Australia. Only as a young adult, now played by Creator/DevPatel, is he able to try to search for his family in rural India.

* BigBrotherWorship: Saroo look up to his older brother Guddu with admiration.

* FlatCharacter: There isn't much to much to Mantosh other than that he's a slob with self-harm and anger issues and has an uneasy relationship with Saroo.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: An in-story and justified example. Due to being only five at the time he was lost, it is understandable that Saroo didn't know the exact spelling or pronunciation of his hometown which made it very difficult to locate. Additionally, it is revealed his [[spoiler:his name was actually Sheru, and he had been mispronouncing it his entire life.]]

''Lion'' is a 2016 BasedOnATrueStory film about a young Indian boy, Saroo, who is lost in a train station by his family in a faraway city where he does not speak the language. Unable to communicate where he's from or who his parents are, he is treated as an orphan and adopted to Australia. Only as a young adult, now played by Creator/DevPatel, is he able to try to search for his family in rural India.

Creator/DevPatel was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role in this movie.

* {{Mondegreen}}:
* PlayedForDrama when young Saroo cannot pronounce his hometown of Ganesh Talai except as Kanestalee, rendering searching impossible.
* [[spoiler:It also turns out that Saroo had been mispronouncing his name the entire time, actually being "Sheru".]]

* {{Mondegreen}}: PlayedForDrama when young Saroo cannot pronounce his hometown of Ganesh Talai except as Kanestalee, rendering searching impossible.

* {{Biopic}}: Of Saroo Brierly and how he reunited with biological mother.

* DisappearedDad: The father Saroo and his biological siblings is never brought up.

* AbusiveParents: {{Implied}}. Sue mentions her father was a drunk and "not a nice man".

* DarkAndTroubledPast: {{Implied}} with Mantosh. His first appearance has him appear more physically distressed than Saroo and he often goes in bouts of anger.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: {{Implied}] with Mantosh. His first appearance has him appear more physically distressed than Saroo and he often goes in bouts of anger.